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Chu Hua nodded at Li’s statement. It was indeed a big deal that the king was here- he rarely came to games, even Nationals, and even then he had never been seen outside of the Upper Ring. Something more was going on here. She glanced at the royal box every few moments as the woman sang, almost reassuring herself he was still there. Playing in front of the king made her sweat- even though she had done it before. They had to win this! If only to prove they were better than those fucking Wolfbats.

She snorted, but didn’t comment on Li’s obvious crush. Teenagers would be teenagers- of course the younger girl would be attracted to the Wolfbats. [color=Firebrick]“Li. Don’t worry about [i]Kanna[/i], or their fucking trophies. She might play herself up, but she’s shit under pressure. And the wolfbats have gotten lazy. They’re too used to winning. We’re not.”[/color] Chu Hua found herself not listening to the anthem while whispering to the younger girl- she had heard it at least 100 times, and just lazily kept her hand on her heart. She had to maintain some form of patriotism, but it didn’t pay to be over patriotic [i]or[/i] to just brazenly ignore it- right in front of the king!

[color=FireBrick]“I’m calm because I’ve been doing this since I was 17. I’ve played-”[/color] Chu Hua took a moment to think. She was awful with math. [color=FireBrick] “100 games. This is your first Nationals. At some point, it becomes more of a… well, not a habit, but a ritual. I’m not [i]calm[/i], but I’m not freaking out. I’ just know I’m too good to lose.”[/color] She said all of this in a relaxedl fashion, not belaying her inner anxiety. God, she wanted to win this game. It was more than a want, it was a drive. There was fire at her heels, bidding her to do it, to win, to get that fucking trophy and rub it in everyone’s stupid faces.